Call the Market

After last week's zippy performance in the cattle complex, where the spot October live cattle contract ran to the highest price point it's traded at since last October and the fed cash cattle market gained $2 in both the Northern and Southern Plains, the market has seemed to slip back to a methodical, less-exciting nature which is more common for the dog days of summer.

But instead of checking out of the market until excitement perks back up (most likely after Labor Day), cattlemen should use this time to articulate the market strategies they'd like to deploy later in the year and consider what options they may be provided in 2025.

Below are a couple thoughts you may want to ponder in the weeks ahead.

First, if you haven't marketed and sold your calves, now is the prime time to hone into exactly what you'd like to do with the calves that you have to market in 2024. I understand this market allows for more flexibility and options, given that prices are so high. But if you don't carefully think through and decipher all the options that you may have, as creatures of habit, we often default to the practices we've always executed when sometimes we should have slowed down and realized there were better options.

Regardless of how you choose to market your calves this year -- whether it be through a reputable sale barn, through a country buyer, or through a video platform -- I highly recommend you write down all the options that you could potentially utilize later this year. At the end of each week, look at how the market closed, what market fundamentals changed for both the live cattle and feeder cattle complex, and think through which option would best serve you and your operation.

Second, determine how you're going to market your open cows. The cull cow/open cow market typically sees its lowest point in the fall and highest point in the spring. In this year's market, however, it's hard to say there's "one right way" to go about marketing them. Even though seasonally cull cow prices are lowest in the fall, the lack of availability of cull cows has pushed the cull cow market to extreme highs as well.

I understand the market is good, strong and favorable right now and that one could easily fall into the mindset of allowing the market to do whatever it's going to do and simply sell when it's most convenient. But you never want to walk away from the table thinking you left $100 to $400 per head there simply because you didn't articulate a stronger marketing strategy.

One thing that I've realized about bull markets is there isn't only one way to go about marketing your cattle. The market's bullish environment allows producers to be more creative and potentially execute different marketing strategies than they typically would in a normal year.

As cattlemen, we know the market typically runs in a 10-year cycle and, at most, two to three of the years in that span favor cow-calf producers. Which makes it all the more important that you hone in on your marketing strategies when the market is strong and squeeze every penny out of the market that it has to offer.

ShayLe Stewart can be reached at ShayLe.Stewart@dtn.com

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